Tech

Making Science in the Ocean Cheap With the Robotboat

Doing science in the far-out ocean is hard. You need a boat, a crew, equipment and a lot of money. What if you could do it with robots?

That's exactly the idea of a new Kickstarter project called Robotboat. Behind the project are four engineers who aim to build and test the Roboboat Mark VI, the sixth version of a low-cost, self-propelled autonomous catamaran that's going to be equipped with all kinds of gizmos to study the ocean.

With it, the researchers hope to be able to study oil leaks, marine life, icebergs and even the Pacific Garbage Patch. Basically, they want to do scientific research for cheap with unmanned, completely autonomous sailing boats. “Never send a person to do a buoy's job!” says the Kickstarter project page.

The team has already completed the design of the Mark IV, which is going to be built “like a surfboard,” according to the project page, and “it will be incredibly strong and be capable of being rolled in waves indefinitely.”

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